35 Star Flag - The 17th flag Design, Used July 4, 1863 - July 4 1865
During the Time of the Lincoln Administration and the Civil War

Master Sargeant Smith Stimmel was the bodyguard and flag bearer to President Lincoln. He was present during the Gettysburg Address on 11/19/1863 and very possibly used this flag during the ceremony that day. This flag, as well as the belt and portrait of Master Sargent Stimmel were aquired together, and are marked with the initials M.S.S. Smith Stimmel died April 14, 1935 - exactly 70 years to the day of Lincoln’s assasination.

A Wax Figure of Abraham Lincoln

A Lock of Abraham
Lincoln's Hair

It is thought that a few locks of hair were removed from the President's head for the family previous to the remains being placed in the coffin.

LITTLE KNOWN FACT: President Theodore Roosevelt wore a ring containing a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair when he was inaugurated in 1905. The hair had been cut by Dr. Charles C. Taft, one of the attending physicians the night of the assassination. The hair was purchased by John Hay on February 9, 1905, and was given to Roosevelt less than a month later. In his Autobiography, Roosevelt wrote, "When I was inaugurated on March 4, 1905, I wore a ring he (John Hay) sent me the night before, containing the hair of Abraham Lincoln. This ring was on my finger when the Chief Justice administered to me the oath of allegiance to the United States."

Large Bronze Plaque & Brick from
the Stuart & Lincoln Law Office

Upon moving to Springfield in 1837, Abraham Lincoln began the practice of law as the junior partner of John Todd Stuart. Stuart was an established Springfield attorney, but took on a partner to free himself from enough legal work to facilitate his run for Congress. The offices of Stuart and Lincoln occupied a single room on the second floor. With Stuart often absent from the premises, Lincoln found himself obliged to master the details of a general law practice rapidly. He gained valuable experience representing a wide variety of clients in divergent types of cases. Lincoln also traveled the judicial circuit that included Bloomington and other central Illinois communities. This circuit allowed a single judge and a number of lawyers based in a larger community, like Springfield, to provide individuals in outlying areas with access to legal council and judicial proceedings on a regular schedule. In 1839 Stuart left to begin his term in the United States Congress, leaving Lincoln to run the firm himself.

An Extremely Rare Sample of
Mary Todd Lincoln's Hair

It was a common Victorian pastime to work clipped lengths of hair from family members and friends into delicately woven jewelry, sometimes incorporating, beads, shells, and colored ribbons. Often these had a memorial or funerary purpose, but sometimes simply served as mementos of a living friend or loved one. Back then, hair was the most personal gift you could possibly give someone; it was a symbol of permanence in an uncertain world.

Fascination with hair goes back much earlier than the Victorian era. It dates back to ancient Egypt, when pharaohs and queens exchanged locks of hair as love tokens. And of course, Samson and Delilah were both well acquainted with the powerful nature of a long mane of hair. Even Napoleon's soldiers kept bits of his hair after his death to capture some of his power.

Sample of Mary Surratt's Hair

Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt (May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government. She was the mother of John H. Surratt, Jr., who was later tried but was not convicted in the assassination.

Abraham Lincoln's Straight Razor

The story of how Lincoln decided to let his chin whiskers sprout has been retold so many times that it’s almost legendary: Grace Bedell, an 11-year-old in upstate New York, wrote him a letter a few weeks before the election. “I have got 4 brothers," she told the Republican candidate, “and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you. you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President." Lincoln replied to the “dear little miss" “As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?? Just days after his election, though, he made up his mind. “Billy, he supposedly told his barber, “let’s give them a chance to grow.

A Piece Of Wood From The Original Rutledge New Salem Mill Dam

The dam was built in 1829 by James Rutledge and it was on this dam that Lincoln’s flatboat lodged on his trip to New Orleans in 1832.

A Piece of wood from from the roof where Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln married Mrs. Sally Bush Johnston